Radar apparatus, system, and method

Abstract

For example, a radar Radio Head (RH) may be configured to determine Range-Doppler (RD) information corresponding to a plurality of RD bins based on digital radar Receive (Rx) signals representing radar Radio Frequency (RF) Rx signals received by one or more Rx antennas; to detect one or more detected RD bins based on the RD information; to provide filtered RD information including RD information corresponding to the one or more detected RD bins and excluding RD information of one or more excluded RD bins, which are not included in the one or more detected RD bins; and to send the filtered RD information to another processor via a communication interconnect.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus comprising:
 a Radio Head (RH) comprising:
 an RH processor configured to process digital radar Receive (Rx) signals representing radar Radio Frequency (RF) Rx signals received by one or more Rx antennas based on radar RF Transmit (Tx) signals transmitted by one or more Tx antennas,
 wherein the RH processor is configured to determine Range-Doppler (RD) information corresponding to a plurality of RD bins based on the digital radar Rx signals, wherein RD information corresponding to an RD bin comprises a plurality of energy values, 
 wherein the RH processor is configured to detect one or more detected RD bins based on the RD information, and to provide filtered RD information comprising RD information corresponding to the one or more detected RD bins and excluding RD information of one or more excluded RD bins, which are not included in the one or more detected RD bins; and 
 
 a communication interface configured to send the filtered RD information to another processor via a communication interconnect. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the RH processor is configured to detect the one or more detected RD bins according to an azimuth-based detection criterion to detect potential targets along an azimuth axis. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the RH processor is configured to determine a plurality of azimuth-based values for the RD bin based on the plurality of energy values, and to determine whether or not the RD bin is to be included in the one or more detected RD bins based on a comparison between the plurality of azimuth-based values for the RD bin and a detection threshold value. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the RH processor is configured to determine the plurality of azimuth-based values for the RD bin based on a plurality of sets of Fast-Fourier-Transform (FFT) values for the RD bin, wherein the plurality of sets of FFT values for the RD bin corresponds to a respective plurality of antenna rows of a virtual antenna based on the one or more Tx antennas and the one or more Rx antennas, wherein a set of FFT values corresponding to an antenna row is based on a FFT applied to a set of energy values corresponding to a respective set of antenna elements in the antenna row. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the RH processor is configured to determine the plurality of azimuth-based values for the RD bin based on FFT values for a respective plurality of antenna columns of the virtual antenna, wherein an azimuth-based value corresponding to an antenna column is based on a summation of a set of absolute FFT values corresponding to the antenna column. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein the azimuth-based value corresponding to the antenna column is based on a non-coherent summation of the set of absolute FFT values corresponding to the antenna column. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the RH processor is configured to determine that the RD bin is to be included in the one or more detected RD bins based on determination that at least one azimuth-based value of the plurality of azimuth-based values for the RD bin exceeds the detection threshold value. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the RH processor is configured to provide the filtered RD information comprising azimuth-based information for the plurality of RD bins, wherein the azimuth-based information comprises the plurality of azimuth-based values for the RD bin. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the detection threshold value is configured to provide the filtered RD information having a data bandwidth of less than 10 Giga-bit-per-second (Gbps). 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the RH processor is configured to provide the filtered RD information comprising statistical information based on the RD information corresponding to the plurality of RD bins. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the RH comprises an RH memory, wherein the RH processor is configured to store the filtered RD information in the RH memory, wherein the communication interface is configured to retrieve the filtered RD information from the RH memory based on a bandwidth of the communication interconnect. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of energy values comprises energy values corresponding to a plurality of virtual antenna elements based on the one or more Tx antennas and the one or more Rx antennas, wherein a virtual antenna element represents a combination of an Rx antenna and a Tx antenna. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the RH processor is configured to provide the filtered RD information having a data bandwidth of up to 10 Giga-bit-per-second (Gbps). 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the RH processor is configured to provide the filtered RD information having a data bandwidth of up to 1 Giga-bit-per-second (Gbps). 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the communication interface comprises a 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) interface. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the communication interface comprises a Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI). 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 1  comprising:
 one or more RF Rx chains to generate analog radar Rx signals based on the radar RF Rx signals; and 
 an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) to generate the digital radar Rx signals based on the analog radar Rx signals. 
 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17  comprising one or more RF Tx chains to transmit the radar RF Tx signals via the one or more Tx antennas. 
     
     
         19 . A system comprising:
 one or more of Radio Heads (RHs), wherein a RH of the one or more RHs comprises:
 an RH processor configured to process digital radar Receive (Rx) signals representing radar Radio Frequency (RF) Rx signals received by one or more Rx antennas based on radar RF Transmit (Tx) signals transmitted by one or more Tx antennas,
 wherein the RH processor is configured to determine Range-Doppler (RD) information corresponding to a plurality of RD bins based on the digital radar Rx signals, wherein RD information corresponding to an RD bin comprises a plurality of energy values, 
 wherein the RH processor is configured to detect one or more detected RD bins based on the RD information, and to provide filtered RD information comprising RD information corresponding to the one or more detected RD bins and excluding RD information of one or more excluded RD bins, which are not included in the one or more detected RD bins; and 
 
 a communication interface configured to send the filtered RD information over a communication interconnect; and 
   another processor configured to receive the filtered RD information via the communication interconnect, and to generate radar information based on the filtered RD information.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19  comprising a vehicle, the vehicle comprising a system controller configured to control one or more vehicular systems of the vehicle based on the radar information.